Awards may be put on hold for five days. Awards may take time to be verified by the operating airlines. Once approved, they will proceed to a booking queue for ticket issuance; the sooner the trip, the faster the process - and vice versa. See link to thread, below.

Booking for, or changing an award to, travel sooner than 21 days out requires an early booking fee (waived for Executive Platinum members). One can not book farther out, change to closer in and evade this fee any longer (as of 16 Feb 2012)

Booking Business or First awards with JL / Japan Airlines one will only be able to fly in Economy domestically in Japan, but upgrades are quite inexpensive at ¥1,000 or so per flight.

See more below in "General Rules"

Latest changes:

As of Aug 2017, Connections are limited to two connections / three flight segments for domestic awards, and three connections / four flight segments for international awards. Link

Nov 2016: MH and 9W can now be used on AA or CX transpacific awards to India subcontinent via HKG in addition to CX

May 6, 2016: Regions split (Indian Subcontinent, Middle East)

Jet Airways discontinued EWR-BRU as of 27 March 2016.

As of 7 April 2014, the "free stopover" discussed can no longer be used as free award stopovers at international North American gateways have been eliminated.

Airlines are normally precluded from writing tickets with more than 16 segments.

American Airlines Awards are valid for travel on flights that are marketed and operated by AA (no codeshares). These awards can be booked online at AA.com.

oneworld and Other Airline awards are valid for travel on AA and any of its partner airlines, and can include travel on multiple partners. Many of these awards must be booked over the phone, and will not incur a Ticketing Service Charge (waived for EXPs in any case) if they cannot be booked online.

Up to four one-way awards can be booked on a single PNR.

General Rules, Routing and Connections

Passenger has 4h on domestic / 23h59m international travel to connect. If there are no scheduled flights within this timeframe, regardless of availability, the passenger must take the next scheduled flight but, may not exceed 24 hours. If the connection exceeds 24 hours, it will be considered a stopover may require two awards).

If there is a non-stop flight that departs after the 4h / 23h59m windows and arrives at the destination earlier than a connecting flight within the 4h / 23h59m window, the passenger may be booked on the non-stop flight.

Effective on 14 Jul 2014 on an all-AA-metal award itinerary, you now have up to 18 hours to connect when traveling to/from Hawaii [[URL="http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25730421-post993.html"]Ref]

The particular carrier's Maximum Permitted Miles / MPM + 25% on a particular route. (The MPM by itself often exceeds the distance between the origin and destination airports because connections may be required.)

Or, the "most significant carrier" (e.g. DFW-SFO-HKG-BKK, CX SFO-HKG is the prevailing or most significant carrier) must publish a non-constructed fare between your origin and destination.

To price as a single award, AAdvantage requires the most significant carrier to publish a cash fare (non-constructed) between the origin and destination. Airline MSC would have to have a published fare from XXX to YYY that allows travel on all included airlines, and routing that you want. If the MSC only offers constructed fares between your desired origin and destination, AA will price this as two awards.

Stopovers

None allowed.

Partner award inventories

Award booking inventory classes for each carrier in the AAdvantage Award program are listed below and may be useful when on the phone with an AA rep or when checking availability. See also the Award Booking Codes page in the FlyerGuide wiki for updated information.

Passenger has 4h / 23h59m to connect (depending on domestic or international travel). If there are no scheduled flights within this timeframe, regardless of availability, the passenger must take the next scheduled flight but, may not exceed 24 hours. If the connection exceeds 24 hours, it will be considered a stopover.

If there is a non-stop flight that departs after the 4h / 23h59m window and arrives at the destination earlier than a connecting flight within the 4h / 23h59m window, the passenger may be booked on the non-stop flight. It is not necessary to check every flight/carrier to ensure passenger is booked on next scheduled flight.

Must meet Married Segment Logic - a prospective trip may be available when searching segment by segment, yet not be bookable through from origin to destination. When selling seats for through flights and the desired inventory is not available, you cannot opt to sell the flight point-to-point. If sold point-to-point, the error response MULTIPLE SEGMENTS FOR SAME FLIGHT - SELL AS ONE SEGMENT will be received, indicating this booking is not allowed. Overriding the error check by ending the PNR twice is not acceptable.

Within North America

Awards wholly within North America are valid on all partner airlines that market and operate their own service within North America.

Travel between two cities in the United States via Canada/Mexico is not allowed.

Travel between two cities in Canada/Mexico via the United States is not allowed.

Passenger must travel the most direct routing.

Connections of more than 4 hours are considered a stopover unless the passenger is taking the next scheduled flight and it is outside the 4 hours.

Any connection of 24 hours is always considered a stopover.

Award travel between Hawaii and North America does not include inter-island flights.

Inter-island award travel will allow a maxium of 2 flight segments.

North America To/from Other Regions

Award travel to/from North America is allowed on any combination of carriers that service the applicable region except as noted below.

Passenger must use most direct routing.

Hawaiian Airlines is not valid for these awards.

As of Oct 1, 2010, British Airways is valid for all routes, including transatlantic flights between the U.S. and U.K.

Travel to Europe, Africa and the Indian Sub-Continent/Middle East must be via the Atlantic only.

Travel to Asia 1, Asia 2 and the South Pacific must be via the Pacific.

Travel to/from Fiji/Papeete cannot be via Australia/New Zealand.

Travel to Easter Island (IPC) must be via Papeete (PPT) or use two awards.

North American travel to/from Guam or Saipan, the transpacific segment must be on AA.

Passenger has 23h59m to connect, regardless of availability.

A connection with more than 23h59m will be considered a stopover.

Travel Wholly Within or Between All Other RegionsThese awards do not allow a connection via North America and therefore, do not include travel on American Airlines.

Passenger must travel the most direct routing.

Connecting travel is not allowed outside the region or regions.

Passenger has 23h59m to connect, regardless of availability.

A connection with more than 24 hours will be considered a stopover.

Travel Via a Third Region

Travel via a third region is not allowed (note the exception table below).

EXCEPTION TABLE:
To/From Via

North America to/from Africa can connect in Europe or in DOH if connecting QR-QR

North America to/from Indian Sub Continent/Middle East can connect in Europe

North America to/from Asia 2 can connect in Asia 1

Central/South America to/from Africa can connect in Europe

Central/South America to/from Indian Sub Continent/Middle East can connect in Europe

Central/South America to/from South Pacific can connect in South America 2

South America 2 to/from Africa can connect in DOH if connecting QR-QR

South America 2 to/from Indian Sub Continent/Middle East can connect in Europe

Travel on LAN direct flights between North America and South America Region 2 are allowed. Currently, only one market, Miami to/from Buenos Aries, has direct service. These can only be booked by the liaisons. Contact support for booking assistance.

NOTE: New award charts are in place for awards made 22 March 2016 or later. See the American Airlines charts here and the oneworld and partner award charts here, both those effective through 21 March 2016 and those taking effect 22 Mar 2016.

Awards assistance tools: Use at your own risk; may not be up to date. These are not recommendations.

British Airways Executive Club: You can sign up for British Airways Executive Club, Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank or Qantas Frequent Flyer to use their sites to find awards (look for the lowest level awards) you can't see on aa.com. Can show "phantom" availability.

Award Nexus: It's easy to do your experiments for some free browsing (click "more signup options" under the green Purchase button to sign up with your FlyerTalk login info). You might want to run each segment rather than origin to destination.

How about when you want to book two seats but with two separate AAccounts?

Thanks

Depends on what airline partner. Some you can do at aa.com and you don't need to call at all. Just login to each account and there will be a hold and or a purchasevbutton Just did that this Am for some qf flights. What air line and routing are you looking for.

Depends on what airline partner. Some you can do at aa.com and you don't need to call at all. Just login to each account and there will be a hold and or a purchasevbutton Just did that this Am for some qf flights. What air line and routing are you looking for.

From the "AA and Partner Airline Award" thread in the pre-merger AA forum:

"Europe to/from South Pacific:

will allow for connections in Singapore or Bangkok only. Stopovers in these cities for this award are not allowed.

**this rule may actually be this now:

Award travel between Europe and the South Pacific will allow for connections in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Narita, Osaka or Singapore only. Stopovers in these cities for this award are not allowed."

Folks,
I was wondering in my current naive state, what direct / connections constitute in Europe to South Pacific awards?
For example, J class awards for 3 people (as I am looking to book) are not easily found on direct routings such as SYD-SIN-LHR (BA). So I have been searching for separate awards like, SYD-NRT and NRT-LHR. A small complication is we are actually looking for WLG-SYD-NRT-LHR.
If I find availability on this route (for example), but with QF then JL or BA with a connection of less than 24hours (or is that 6hours??), would the route be valid?
I would refine my searching through the gateways noted above (BKK, HKG, NRT, SIN etc).
Just not completely sure that this is construed as a "direct connection" when using two carriers and is less orthodox than traditional connections with a single flight number or carrier?
Want to phone up armed with the correct information and known availability so confirmation of what people believe as the rules and routings permitted would be greatly appreciated...I can of course report back!
cheers
dj

Folks,
I was wondering in my current naive state, what direct / connections constitute in Europe to South Pacific awards?
For example, J class awards for 3 people (as I am looking to book) are not easily found on direct routings such as SYD-SIN-LHR (BA). So I have been searching for separate awards like, SYD-NRT and NRT-LHR. A small complication is we are actually looking for WLG-SYD-NRT-LHR.
If I find availability on this route (for example), but with QF then JL or BA with a connection of less than 24hours (or is that 6hours??), would the route be valid?
I would refine my searching through the gateways noted above (BKK, HKG, NRT, SIN etc).
Just not completely sure that this is construed as a "direct connection" when using two carriers and is less orthodox than traditional connections with a single flight number or carrier?
Want to phone up armed with the correct information and known availability so confirmation of what people believe as the rules and routings permitted would be greatly appreciated...I can of course report back!
cheers
dj

For now, anyway, completely leave out the WLG-SYD portion, will only complicate things and very possibly will need to be on a separate award, so discard that for a moment (obviously you'll try and add it back in once you get the rest lined up.)

You can disregard the specified Asian airports from my old info. I forgot why at the time they names the connection points (the was a reason-- and it was before published fare rule, so maybe that was it) as the current, verbatim rule is:

"Europe to South Pacific may connect in Asia1 or Asia2" Now that is then overplayed with the published fare requirement-- and that can be tricky, but you're routing is pretty non-demanding. Connection time is 24 hours.

Also, note that you can fly SYD-DXB-LHR using Qantas using the single flight # QF flights -and- you can review the availability of those on AA.com.

For now, anyway, completely leave out the WLG-SYD portion, will only complicate things and very possibly will need to be on a separate award, so discard that for a moment (obviously you'll try and add it back in once you get the rest lined up.)

You can disregard the specified Asian airports from my old info. I forgot why at the time they names the connection points (the was a reason-- and it was before published fare rule, so maybe that was it) as the current, verbatim rule is:

"Europe to South Pacific may connect in Asia1 or Asia2" Now that is then overplayed with the published fare requirement-- and that can be tricky, but you're routing is pretty non-demanding. Connection time is 24 hours.

Also, note that you can fly SYD-DXB-LHR using Qantas using the single flight # QF flights -and- you can review the availability of those on AA.com.

Many thanks. That sounds good, plenty of options presented with Asia.
I presume then, North America connections are not possible?
Eg SYD-DFW-LHR or SYD-LAX-LHR etc?
cheers
dj

What happens when there's a conflict between the exception chart and the most direct routing?

The most direct routing from LHR-PPT would be LHR-LAX-PPT. Would they really force you to do LHR-SIN-SYD-AKL-PPT?

As guv mentioned above, it looks like TN does publish a LHR-CDG-LAX-PPT fare, but it requires AF on the LHR-CDG segment, so that's obviously no good using AA miles. You should be able to book though CDG-LAX-PPT as a single award, as long as you book the through flight, i.e. the same flight number. Take the train to Paris or buy a cheap separate one-way flight to CDG.